In a recent story about growing concerns among app developers who want better ways to promote their apps in the App Store, The Wall Street Journal published quotes from an interview with Apple’s Vice President for Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller about the “tremendous amount” of work Apple does to help new apps get discovered. Schiller also talked about how things will improve with the redesigned App Store, Facebook integration, and new user tracking tools for developers in iOS 6:

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“The opportunity is the best it has ever been for software developers,” Mr. Schiller said, adding that he thinks the app store is a far more democratic way to sell software than traditional retail stores with limited shelf space… Apple has also introduced new tools for app developers to gather data from repeat users that is more limited than an earlier tool it said it would phase out amid privacy concerns. Mr. Schiller said the new tools were only a first step and “more can be done to help users have control over what apps and advertisers want to do with data.”

Speaking about Apple’s new Passbook app, Schiller told The Wall Street Journal that it has no plans to make it a “direct payment product, for now”:

Mr. Schiller said the company is steering clear of making it a more direct payment product, for now. He said so-called digital wallet mobile-payment services are “all fighting over their piece of the pie, and we aren’t doing that.”

Schiller also defended the methods Apple currently uses to promote apps in the App Store:

Mr. Schiller also pointed out that Apple promotes apps in multiple ways, such as popularity charts and featured app lists. “Every other day you hear about another app going off the charts,” he said. “You can still get discovered and get a hit overnight.”

About the Author

Jordan writes about all things Apple as Senior Editor of 9to5Mac, & contributes to 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, & Electrek.co. He also co-authors 9to5Mac’s weekly Logic Pros series and makes music as one half of Toronto-based Makamachine.